updated 08:55 am EDT, Mon August 22, 2011

Kno textbooks get 3D and video

Kno started off the week by giving its iPad app (free, App Store) a handful of first for digital textbooks. Students can now look at 3D objects in textbooks that they can navigate with gestures. The in-beta feature is so far being focused on chemistry but will expand to other fields in time.

Also new are beta Smart Links, which primarily focus on videos. The approach puts YouTube and other video content into a textbook without having to block out space or otherwise segment it away from the relevant material. Khan Academy is providing thousands of educational clips of its own, including algebra and calculus, and should be joined by others.

Kno's app so far currently sits only on the iPad. Textbooks usually cost about 30 to 50 percent less than their paper equivalents.